Title: American Atheists understand Battlefield Earth!
Author: Jim Byrd byrd@acm.org
Date: Mon, 08 May 2000 20:36:45 -0400

This is from the American Atheists email newsletter AANEWS for today:

Early in the newsletter (in "In This Issue..."):
" * Hubbard film -- entertainment or Xemu propaganda?"

The story below takes up about half of this issue.
-------------------------------------------- --------------------------------
"BATTLEFIELD EARTH" -- FIGHTING ALIENS,
SCIENTOLOGY CRITICS

When the much-hyped film production "Battlefield Earth" lands in theaters later this week, sci-fi fans may encounter more than an extraterrestrial army of "Psychlos," glitzy special effects and the promised swashbuckling action. Critics of the Church of Scientology are threatening to picket the movie, and charge that revenue from "Battlefield Earth" will fill the coffers of the controversial sect -- a fraudulent religion which, they insist, brainwashes followers, disrupts lives, and exploits church members for their money. Some argue that the film, written by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, is a "recruiting" tool for the group. They point to the involvement of lead actor John Travolta, perhaps the most visible member of the group, along with church "fronts" presumably linked to the leadership of Scientology

. Nonsense, say producers and even representatives of the Church.

The controversy hasn't escaped the mainstream press. The Washington Post profiled Travolta and the movie in a November 28, 1999 piece noting the allegations "about the parallels between the top-secret teachings of the Church of Scientology and the novel 'Battlefield Earth' by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard." The "top secret" moniker may be an exaggeration; many Scientology texts find their way into yard sales and used book stores, and even the internet thanks to a church document which ended up in a court file. In the mid-1980s, 1,500 Scientologists crammed a Los Angeles courthouse to block access to the writings (unsuccessfully) which are supposedly reserved for the top ranks of the religion, those dubbed "Operating Thetans."

Hubbard, a pulp sci-fi writer in the golden age of the genre, allegedly boasted that the way to make money was not to write stories at a nickle-a-word but rather to start a religion. Critics of Scientology say that he did just that, incorporating his fictional plots into a theology constructed around power and his own messianic image. Church gospel teaches that an evil being known as Xenu (also spelled Xemu in some literature) ruled the world 75 million years ago, and unleashed evil spirits that bonded with human beings. Their dysfunctional memories live with us today in the form of "engrams," limiting individual potential and causing a slew of physical and mental problems. Scientology claims to be able to remove these "engrams" through an auditing process, a procedure which asks questions and monitors responses with the help of an "E-meter" -- the orange juice-like cans hooked up to a machine.

Absurd?

"Every religion has a cosmology, a creation mythology" one Scientology spokesman told the Canadian magazine "NOW" in 1999. "In Christianity, you have 'God created the world in seven days.' In Scientology, it's clear where Mr. Hubbard stands. Unquestionably, there have been other societies before us and other societies in the universe. I don't think we're alone."

The critics say that Scientology, though, is less about the search for religious wisdom and extraterrestrial intelligence than it is about recruiting followers, getting rich and gaining political power. Again, the parallels with other religious movements may not be that different. "Anti-Cult" groups have targeted Scientology, charging that it brainwashing psychologically vulnerable people. In France, Germany, Australia and elsewhere, there have been official government commissions probing the group, and putting the Church of Scientology at the center of a debate over international religious rights.

On the internet and elsewhere, church opponents have charged that "Battlefield Earth" is everything from a publicity stunt to a moneymaker for a group that Time Magazine in 1991 described as a "Thriving Cult of Greed and Power." Some promise to picket the movie when it debuts on May 12, in hopes that the public won't allow its money to fall "into the coffers of this vile, viperous organization."

John Travolta rejected charges that "Battlefield Earth" was some kind of subliminal vehicle for brainwashing the public with Scientology teachings. "The truth of why I'm doing it is because it's a great piece of science fiction," he told the Post. "This is not about him (Hubbard.) I'm very interested in Scientology, but that's personal. This is different. This has nothing to do with Scientology."

Travolta may not be the most objective source when it comes to talking about the Church and its idealized founder. He openly credits L. Ron Hubbard for his worldly success and spiritual fulfillment, and says that Scientology is humanity's best hope for achieving a sane world -- a church goal to "Clear the Planet." Travolta has been involved with Scientology since 1975, one member of a small but highly publicized cadre of believers that includes Tom Cruise, Isaac Hayes, Kirstie Alley, Chick Corea and Lisa Marie Presley.

Cruise and wife Nicole Kidman, while open defenders of the sect, didn't attract the controversy "Battlefield Earth" has when "Mission Impossible" or even "Eyes Wide Shut" stormed onto the big screen. Travolta, an "Operating Thetan" who according to church teachings has the ability to manipulate "matter, energy, space, time, form and life," didn't become a lightning rod either over hit films like "Pulp Fiction" and "Broken Arrow."

That may be due to Hubbard's authorship of the 1,050 page book "Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000" in 1980, and the involvement of Author Services Inc., the organization which sells the trademark for Scientology and "Battlefield Earth."

Spokespersons say that ASI is independent of the church. Critics, though, point to an agreement negotiated between Scientology and the Internal Revenue Service that shows a link to the "Church of Spiritual Technology" also known as the "L. Ron Hubbard Library." Indeed, Author Services was founded in 1982 to handle Hubbard's prodigious output of writings, and until 1987 was headed by one David Miscavige, the present head of Scientology.

Another entity involved in the alphabet soup of Scientology groups is "Bridge Publications," described by some as a "front" for the church. In a piece appearing in the April 15, 1990 San Diego Union newspaper, reporter Mike McIntyre noted: "The church uses two businesses to peddle its books, Author Services Inc., a Hollywood literary agency, sells the rights to publish Hubbard's works to Bridge publications Inc., a Los Angeles Company. (sic)"

A former "inspector general" for the Religious Technology Center -- the group which supposedly runs the Scientology empire -- told the paper that Bridge "gets money from a totally controlled cult population," and would even send church members into bookstores to buy multiple copies of Hubbard's works with the goal of inflating sales figures.

"NOW" described Author Services, Inc. as the "California-based arm of the church that owns the rights to all Hubbard's works." Revenue from the rights to "Battlefield Earth" will reportedly flow "from the film to charitable organizations that direct drug education and drug rehabilitation programs around the world." A good candidate for the money, suggests writer Enzo DiMatteo, is the Scientology-operated rehab clinic known as Narconon.

While the financial links between "Battlefield Earth" and Scientology are fairly evident, substantiating the claim that the movie somehow encodes church teachings into an ideological stealth missile aimed at the subconsciousness of movie fans is a bit more daunting. Some have suggested that the "Psychlos" -- a "cruel, tough alien race of invaders whose only interest in the planet is its mineral resources and wealth," according to Bridge Publications -- are metaphoric symbols for one of Hubbard's bete noirs, namely, psychiatrists and other mental health professionals. Some have also found a parallel between the movie's hero, Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, who leads an action-packed rebellion against the invaders, and Hubbard's own romanticized life which may have suffered over-embellishment at the hands of Church hagiographers. Indeed, there may be coincidences and parallels, but Hubbard's fertile imagination (mixed perhaps with what some critics say is taxing literary style) spewed forth a cornucopia of plots, villains, heroes and other characters. Like the prophecies of Nostradamus, some of the material seems to fit the real world or, in this case, the action-packed, sci-fi-esque theology of Hubbard's religious offspring. Even Xenu found his way into -- or is it from? -- the Hubbard pantheon in the 1977 screenplay titled "Revolt in the Stars," where with the help of two advisers, the dark overlord rounds up "unwanted" beings from throughout the universe and lands them on Earth where they are imprisoned in volcanos and subjected to a hail of atomic bombs.

"The plot of 'Revolt' mirrors a sacred Scientology text called 'OT III' (which stands for Operating Thetan Section III). It is revealed to Scientologists only after they pay tens of thousands of dollars and undergo many hours of intensive 'processing' to prepare them for the Xenu message," notes the Washington Post.

It remains to be seen if Travolta's talent plus the $80 million adaptation of Hubbard's magnum opus will automatically translate into a screen blockbuster. It has taken multiple attempts for Scientology to even have Hollywood consider making "Battlefield Earth" into a movie, and reportedly there have been ten revisions of the original script. What may emerge is less a subtle brainwashing using Hubbard's convoluted science fiction-cum-religion, than a Scientology LITE overwhelmed by special effects. Corey Mandell came on board the scriptwriting project in 1998 after being asked by Travolta, and told the Post unambiguously, "I am not a Scientologist."

"It's a science-fiction story," Mandell mused. "There's nothing sacred about the story, nothing of the religious philosophy."

It may be, as some have suggested, that while the Church of Scientology could realize millions of dollars from "Battlefield Earth," and even an influx of new believers, Hubbard's brainchild may be bested by an even greedier and avaricious force -- the Hollywood entertainment complex. The film has been picked up by two Tinseltown giants, Morgan Creek Productions and Warner Brothers, who will handle distribution and marketing. Travolta even had to go outside the church for financing to Jonathan Krane, and to director Roger Christian who collaborated with George Lucas on "The Phantom Menace."

Just as the boundary between Hubbard's pulp fiction and Scientology's doctrinal beliefs remains blurred and confused, so does the line between the church's involvement in "Battlefield Earth" and the omnivorous demands of Hollywood.

None of this will deter either critics of Scientology who see "Battlefield Earth" as a vehicle for seducing audiences, or true believers within the church who consider L. Ron Hubbard to be the greatest science fiction writer (among other accomplishments) of human history, and fervently hope that the film will bring their beliefs into the cultural mainstream -- a small step toward "clearing" the planet. The debate is all eerily reminiscent of the 1950s Red Scare, though, when church leaders, politicians and others fretted over the Communist Party infiltration of Hollywood, and even charged that "High Noon" -- one of the archetypes of the western genre -- was Bolshevik propaganda.

Alleged Party members did have a hand in the film which starred Gary Cooper and quickly became a favorite of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Ironically, "High Noon" -- perhaps the "Battlefield Earth" of its era for being thought capable of delivering a subversive ideological message -- was quickly denounced by the Communist Party and labeled a shameless glorification of American individualism.

Critics and audiences may prove to be equally stern in their verdict on "Battlefield Earth." There are only so many Scientologists who can suffer through only so many screenings, and ultimately the marketplace will decide whether an Oscar nomination or the direct route to video is in order. The controversy surrounding this movie, however, shows that religion -- including the personal beliefs of Hollywood celebrities -- remains, for some people anyway, a driving force at the box-office.